The capacity and willingness for scientific development (2/2)
Not to mention that, under the premise that no one can predict the future, whether such a high-risk decision is rational; even if one knew in advance that firearms would unify the world of the future, this seemingly far-sighted decision would often amount to nothing more than digging one’s own grave.
Firearms, once they have fully matured, can sweep away all opponents the next day; this is certainly true.
However, considering the time required for research and development, a group that makes such a decision will be utterly defeated in tomorrow’s battle, wiped out and exterminated. This is what has often happened in human history.
Under the immense pressure of competition between species, basic scientific research is the exclusive privilege of absolute leaders; yet such leaders are not common. Human technological development has therefore been halting and uneven, with repeated setbacks, wasting who knows how many years.
If everything were under control, if everyone could work together in unity, the development of natural science would surely be far beyond what it is today.
However, from the perspective of game theory, “moving forward hand in hand” is nothing more than a fantasy divorced from reality.
Ability is one thing, willingness is another.
In today’s world, one country and the other powers, mired in economic crisis and mutually eyeing one another with hostility, have no incentive to vigorously pursue basic scientific research.
With the development of science and technology having lost the core driving force of fundamental theory, no matter how dazzling the applied achievements, they are nothing more than ripples raised by existing fundamental theory.
One day, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, when those ripples fade, human scientific research will gradually become stagnant waters that can no longer stir up any waves.
Until new basic scientific research achieves a breakthrough—but will that day ever come?
The brutal competition between species has, for countless years, remained the underlying tone of the human world, and scientific research is nothing more than the provision of tools for resisting this process.
“Seeking truth, exploring the world” may, for an individual, be the goal of a lifetime’s striving; but as a whole species, humanity has never been able to escape the torment of survival pressure.
To put it more bluntly, so-called “seeking truth, understanding the world” is ultimately nothing more than an illusion.
Just as a series of physiological and psychological reactions triggered by hormones are nothing more than instinct, yet are given the name “love.”
From today’s standpoint, looking toward the future, the human world’s prospects are bleak. Even if, one day in the future, there are no longer opposing human groups in this world and the pressure of competition between species no longer exists, scientific research in humanity is not necessarily going to flourish enormously; once the heavy pressure of coping with competition disappears, exploring the objective world may instead become a pointless and meaningless pastime, even to the point of being abandoned by humanity.
The pressure of competition, of course, makes people focus only on the present, but it also fundamentally compels humanity to study science.
The motivation, on the one hand, is survival; on the other, profit. But when competition ceases to exist, science is no longer a necessary means of survival and profit. When external threats disappear, those who control resources will no longer invest huge sums in scientific research, but will instead drown in pleasure, indulge in reckless enjoyment, and this is precisely the choice made throughout long history by the rulers, kings, emperors, and elites of every seemingly powerful empire.
Among all the people in history, counted in numbers like the grains of sand in the Ganges, were there any who studied science purely out of curiosity and a desire to explore? Certainly there were, and not a small number at that.
But from the cold and ruthless perspective of natural selection, their behavior was still nothing more than the shaping of survival of the fittest.
This trait, used by the rulers of human society, was driven toward the study of science and technology for the sake of profit. Once external pressure disappeared and there was no risk of a species being wiped out in interspecies competition, even if only temporarily absent, then within the ruler’s few decades of lifespan, when he or she believed there was no danger for the rest of their life, all those troublesome scientific studies would be cast aside, and they would indulge in a brief but extravagant period of pleasure.
In the feudal era, an ancient ruler who held territory as king, when facing external threats, would more or less pay special attention to science and technology, otherwise they could not contend with rivals.
But when the threat no longer existed, merely mastering the existing level of force was enough.
At that point, even if scientific research would, in the long run, greatly improve the living standards of everyone within the group, including the ruler himself, it would have little appeal to the ruler.
After all, under the current level of science and technology, he already firmly controlled violence. Who knows whether the new generation of science and technology would still be so obedient? If technological progress were to make him lose control over violence, and thereby lose his supreme status, would that not be a disaster? So it would be better to shackle thought and abolish research.
In any case, one’s own life would end at most within a few decades; why take that risk and add uncertainty to these brief pleasures?
When confronting competitors, firearms are more powerful than bows and arrows, but when it comes to maintaining rule, that is not necessarily so.
Or even if it were so, so what? With the swords and longbows already at hand, one can freely manipulate the men and women under one’s rule in the fields and on the bed. For those short-sighted carnivores immersed in filthy pleasures, such disgraceful conduct is the entirety of life; any scientific or technological advance that might break this deadlock is an evil path that must be forbidden.
Looking back through history, the past thousands of years of humanity are nothing more than fragments of war and extravagance pieced together.
And such a situation may well play out again in the not-too-distant future, just like the endings of so many ancient and brilliant civilizations...
Not to mention that, under the premise that no one can predict the future, whether such a high-risk decision is rational; even if one knew in advance that firearms would unify the world of the future, this seemingly far-sighted decision would often amount to nothing more than digging one’s own grave.
Firearms, once they have fully matured, can sweep away all opponents the next day; this is certainly true.
However, considering the time required for research and development, a group that makes such a decision will be utterly defeated in tomorrow’s battle, wiped out and exterminated. This is what has often happened in human history.
Under the immense pressure of competition between species, basic scientific research is the exclusive privilege of absolute leaders; yet such leaders are not common. Human technological development has therefore been halting and uneven, with repeated setbacks, wasting who knows how many years.
If everything were under control, if everyone could work together in unity, the development of natural science would surely be far beyond what it is today.
However, from the perspective of game theory, “moving forward hand in hand” is nothing more than a fantasy divorced from reality.
Ability is one thing, willingness is another.
In today’s world, one country and the other powers, mired in economic crisis and mutually eyeing one another with hostility, have no incentive to vigorously pursue basic scientific research.
With the development of science and technology having lost the core driving force of fundamental theory, no matter how dazzling the applied achievements, they are nothing more than ripples raised by existing fundamental theory.
One day, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, when those ripples fade, human scientific research will gradually become stagnant waters that can no longer stir up any waves.
Until new basic scientific research achieves a breakthrough—but will that day ever come?
The brutal competition between species has, for countless years, remained the underlying tone of the human world, and scientific research is nothing more than the provision of tools for resisting this process.
“Seeking truth, exploring the world” may, for an individual, be the goal of a lifetime’s striving; but as a whole species, humanity has never been able to escape the torment of survival pressure.
To put it more bluntly, so-called “seeking truth, understanding the world” is ultimately nothing more than an illusion.
Just as a series of physiological and psychological reactions triggered by hormones are nothing more than instinct, yet are given the name “love.”
From today’s standpoint, looking toward the future, the human world’s prospects are bleak. Even if, one day in the future, there are no longer opposing human groups in this world and the pressure of competition between species no longer exists, scientific research in humanity is not necessarily going to flourish enormously; once the heavy pressure of coping with competition disappears, exploring the objective world may instead become a pointless and meaningless pastime, even to the point of being abandoned by humanity.
The pressure of competition, of course, makes people focus only on the present, but it also fundamentally compels humanity to study science.
The motivation, on the one hand, is survival; on the other, profit. But when competition ceases to exist, science is no longer a necessary means of survival and profit. When external threats disappear, those who control resources will no longer invest huge sums in scientific research, but will instead drown in pleasure, indulge in reckless enjoyment, and this is precisely the choice made throughout long history by the rulers, kings, emperors, and elites of every seemingly powerful empire.
Among all the people in history, counted in numbers like the grains of sand in the Ganges, were there any who studied science purely out of curiosity and a desire to explore? Certainly there were, and not a small number at that.
But from the cold and ruthless perspective of natural selection, their behavior was still nothing more than the shaping of survival of the fittest.
This trait, used by the rulers of human society, was driven toward the study of science and technology for the sake of profit. Once external pressure disappeared and there was no risk of a species being wiped out in interspecies competition, even if only temporarily absent, then within the ruler’s few decades of lifespan, when he or she believed there was no danger for the rest of their life, all those troublesome scientific studies would be cast aside, and they would indulge in a brief but extravagant period of pleasure.
In the feudal era, an ancient ruler who held territory as king, when facing external threats, would more or less pay special attention to science and technology, otherwise they could not contend with rivals.
But when the threat no longer existed, merely mastering the existing level of force was enough.
At that point, even if scientific research would, in the long run, greatly improve the living standards of everyone within the group, including the ruler himself, it would have little appeal to the ruler.
After all, under the current level of science and technology, he already firmly controlled violence. Who knows whether the new generation of science and technology would still be so obedient? If technological progress were to make him lose control over violence, and thereby lose his supreme status, would that not be a disaster? So it would be better to shackle thought and abolish research.
In any case, one’s own life would end at most within a few decades; why take that risk and add uncertainty to these brief pleasures?
When confronting competitors, firearms are more powerful than bows and arrows, but when it comes to maintaining rule, that is not necessarily so.
Or even if it were so, so what? With the swords and longbows already at hand, one can freely manipulate the men and women under one’s rule in the fields and on the bed. For those short-sighted carnivores immersed in filthy pleasures, such disgraceful conduct is the entirety of life; any scientific or technological advance that might break this deadlock is an evil path that must be forbidden.
Looking back through history, the past thousands of years of humanity are nothing more than fragments of war and extravagance pieced together.
And such a situation may well play out again in the not-too-distant future, just like the endings of so many ancient and brilliant civilizations...